Mid 18th century, Apollo with allegory of music and zodiac signs

Mid 18th century

Apollo with allegory of music and zodiac signs

Oil on canvas, 62 x 48 cm

With period gold frame, 70 x 57 cm

Born in France as an evolution of the late Baroque, the Rococo was a style characterized by the exuberant manifestation of aristocratic life. After the glories of the Baroque style, the preference of artists and patrons turned towards the depiction of the lightness of aristocratic life, stigmatizing it with a harmonious linearity and fairy-tale colors, in stark opposition to the bright and charged tones of the previous period. Even the favorite subjects changed, veering from doubly battle and religious scenes to sentimental images and referable to the romantic life of ease. The present painting, while respecting the formalism of this particular period, proves to be unique in its kind because of the subject represented: a mythological crasis between the classical zodiac and the allegory of music. Neoclassicism, marked by the melodic and archaeological revival of ancient Greek and Roman models, soon surpassed Rococo: the present painting captures its distant mirage, when theorists had not yet formulated or written about this manner. The protoneoclassical character of the work therefore recognizes it as an intellectual exercise by a cultured admirer or artist, fascinated by the interweaving of meanings typical of ancient myths.

Apollo, dressed in a voluminous coral robe, sits at the head of the composition. The golden lyre he holds and the brightness that radiates from his person suggest his leading role among the muses. These, protectors of the arts, flank him with the typical attributes of music: mandolin, tambourine, wind instruments and percussion, while some playful genies animate the remaining clouds. Apollo can also be recognized as the head of astrology, as the son of Zeus and twin of Artemis, personification of the Sun and therefore of the movement of the stars.

This painting essentially sums up the various aptitudes of Apollo: god of music, mover of the chariot of the Sun and guide of the muses.